SMCA 2019 Cabaret, Broadway Spectacular, will have some enhancements to our tradition. The event will be held at The Lighthouse Restaurant, 14636 Solomons Island Road, Solomons, MD 20688. The new venue allows us to accommodate additional guests. We have had sold-out audiences for several years and a new space seemed in order.

The ticket price will now include dinner, provided by The Lighthouse Restaurant. Non-alcoholic beverages and desserts are also included. A cash bar will be available. Gluten-free food will be an option. Otherm enu details will be posted as they are available. Our ticket price is $60.00 if purchased before Feb. 1, 2019. Tickets purchased after Feb. 1, 2019 are $65.00 . Don’t delay!

Musica is excited to have the opportunity for our members to show you additional talents and skills that you don't normally see during our larger performances . Of course, Musica will present group numbers as well.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. February 16. Performance begins at 6:00 p.m. Here is a link to purchase tickets. Please join us!

The final concert of St. Maries Choral Arts 2017 season will feature music by all the groups in the organization, Chesapeake Children’s Chorus, St. Maries Minstrels, St. Maries Musica, St. Maries Singers and St. Maries Acapella. Music from the sixteenth century through the twenty-first century will be presented in this gala event.

St. Maries Singers and St. Maries Musica will join forces with the Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia (SONOVA) and pianist Juan Carlos Escudero to present Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. The Choral Fantasy was first performed in 1808 along with Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto and excerpts of the Mass in C major. Fortunately, our audience will hear only the Choral Fantasy. If the main theme of this work sounds familiar, that is because Beethoven used it in his Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy.

Juan Carlos Escudero is one of South America's leading pianists. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1984. In 1994, Escudero joined the Rimsky -Korsakov Music Conservatory of Guayaquil, where he began his piano training with Aliona Dziouba. In 1999 he began studying piano and chamber music with Reinaldo Cañizares. In 1995 he won the First Prize of the Ecuadorian National Musical Competition at the Ecuadorian - German Cultural Center. Mr. Escudero has performed all over North and South America. We are thrilled to have him as our guest performer.

In addition to this wonderful Beethoven work, St. Maries Musica and SONOVA will present one of three world premiere performances of Children of Zeus, by Brian Wilbur Grundstrom. St. Maries Choral Arts co-commissioned this work “in memory of our dear friend and colleague, Robert W. Boyd”. To quote Jeffrey Sean Dokken, Director of SONOVA, “Children of Zeus is an incredibly exciting new commission by American Composer Brian Wilbur Grundstrom. It is comprised of 5 movements, each one focusing on one of Zeus’s children. Grundstrom has masterfully set to music text about these Greek Gods and Goddesses, capturing their spirits and personalities in this epic new work for orchestra and choir. From the lush, mysterious harmonies of Dionysus to the loud and militaristic Ares. From the beautiful melody of Aphrodite and the cynicism of Hercules, to the almost hypnotic refrain of Apollo. Children of Zeus is a magnificent new work that will keep you engaged, entertained, and educated from first note to last.” ~ Maestro Jeffrey Sean Dokken.

According to Greek mythology, Zeus was the supreme ruler of the Gods. His wife was Hera but not all the children portrayed in this piece were Hera’s, which made her quite jealous. Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera. He was the god of war. Apollo is the god of music, healing and knowledge and as the god of the sun, rode his chariot to move the sun across the sky. His mother was a human, Leto of Delos. Aphrodite, known in Roman mythology as Venus, is the goddess of Love and Beauty. She is said to have sprung from the sea foam near the island of Cyprus. Dionysus, Bacchus in Roman mythology, is the god of wine. His mother was Semele, a princess of Thebes. Hercules was the strongest on earth and considered himself the equal of the gods. His mother was a mortal, Alcmene. Hera hated Hercules, and drove him to kill his wife and children. As penance, he was given 12 labors, including slaying the Hydra (the water monster that grew two heads for every one that was cut off), cleaning the Augean stables (where 3,000 divine cattle had lived for over 30 years without it ever having been cleaned), and catching the Erymanthian boar.

His music has been performed by Orquestra sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro, La Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil, Sunderman Woodwind Quintet, SONOS Chamber Orchestra, North/South Consonance, Shippensburg Festival Orchestra, Trinity Chamber Orchestra, George Washington University Orchestra, NIH Philharmonia, Holyoke Civic Symphony, The Queer Urban Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia, Chamber Music by Candelight by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians. Colla Voce and The New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus as well as on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Go HERE to see Mr. Grundstrom's video of the first performance of Children of Zeus.

Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia (SONOVA) has performed with SMCA two times in the past. SONOVA began as a small, government funded, Arlington County orchestra. Wildly popular with audiences and musicians alike, in 2011, the conductor, Maestro Jeffrey Dokken, and the committed musicians established a large, independent professional-quality symphony. They have performed throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. SONOVA routinely performs with world class guest artists, conductors, and musicians, and places special importance on collaborations and American and world premieres.Children of Zeus was commissioned for the fifth Anniversary of SONOVA.

Tickets for the final concert will be available at the door, Great Mills High School, June 4, 2017. The tickets will go on sale at 2:30 for the 3:30 concert.